I dont know if you are agreeing with me or not here? Thats pretty much exactly what I was trying to say, yes. Just cos roy said that they cant/dont differentiate between people... I was saying they do, regardless of the reason.

__________________

She does if she happens to be near that end of the rack and i move too quickly but to be honest this has only happened a couple of times. the snakes have their own quite room and im only in there once or twice a day so shes left in peace most of the time.

my lot do the same. if some one else wants to hold them they always head back my way. but like you i think its smell.

mine used to do that. what i did to get her used to me moving around, was put her tub at the end nearest the door, so she saw me coming in and going out. and i put it at head height so she didnt feel threatened. she soon got used to me popping in and out, and the head thumping stopped. she never does it now.

ok, maybe a bad example, but you get my point.
we say we 'know' this and we know that and the other. i just want to know how we come to this particular conclusion with snakes when they can't turn round and tell us such.

is it because they have smaller brains or because thy rely very much on instinct with what they do that we assume they are incable of human emotion??

__________________
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
you don't know you've lived until you're about to die.........
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:2:4 Royal Pythons
0:1:1 Snow Corns
0:0:1 Anery Corn
0:0:1 Okeetee Corn
1:0:0 Amel Corn
1:0:0 Albino Everglades Ratsnake
1:0:0 Red-tailed boa
0:1:0 Albino banded cali kingsnake
1:0:0 Red milk snake
1:0:0 Blood Python
0:0:1 Candy Cane Corn
0:1:0 Rough Green Snake (unfortunatly deceased but not forgotton..R.I.P)

+ horses, rats, mice, budgies, finches, cats, dogs, ferrets and a goldfish ....and on and on and on.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Ssthisto

Haha, I know... :P

They are definitely incapable of emotion as stong as human emotion... surely. But, all emotions are, are different chemicals, proteins and things released by areas of your body that affect other areas. When you see and attractive person, hormones are released that make you, erm... 'receptive' lol. Same for snakes I assume. Its just whether you class these things as 'emotions' or 'instinct'. Surely the love of a person for his/her spouse is purely instinct, however much we like to think it as our complex (and very big headed) human emotions?

__________________

yes, hormones will play a part in snake breeding...but unlike humans, they don't choose a mate as such, as in they don't mate with only the snake they think is sexy or has a nice pattern, or shiny skin etc...they mate due to stimuli in the environment and pheromones (sp.) in order to pass their genes on to the next generation... and unlike humans they do not feel love. It is merely sex to continue their race and pass their genes on, and is stimulated by the environment, and hormones...unlike humans who (mostly!) have children because they want to...and even if it is an accidental pregnancy in humans, they had sex because they wanted to, because we enjoy it.

I'm not saying animals dont enjoy sex, but it's not the reason they do it. There is no emotional reason behind breeding.

precisely. i'm sure mr Royal thinks he loves miss Royal when she crawling by with her tail in the air. flirting away with him and basically saying me beautiful. just as i think snakes have as much cabilty of being upset (but rather than cry they do much as a dog may and go off their food). i think we maybe we could have com to this conclusion simply due to fact that a snakes face doesn't show emotion (that is clear to us anyway). dogs give the big brown soppy eyes, cats purr and push their heads into your hands ect and close their eyes in pleasure. we can visually see their emotions but cannot with snakes.

__________________
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
you don't know you've lived until you're about to die.........
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:2:4 Royal Pythons
0:1:1 Snow Corns
0:0:1 Anery Corn
0:0:1 Okeetee Corn
1:0:0 Amel Corn
1:0:0 Albino Everglades Ratsnake
1:0:0 Red-tailed boa
0:1:0 Albino banded cali kingsnake
1:0:0 Red milk snake
1:0:0 Blood Python
0:0:1 Candy Cane Corn
0:1:0 Rough Green Snake (unfortunatly deceased but not forgotton..R.I.P)

+ horses, rats, mice, budgies, finches, cats, dogs, ferrets and a goldfish ....and on and on and on.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the key word there is "human" emotion.

No, they don't feel human emotions AT ALL - only humans do.

Now, there are certain structures in the brain that are associated with various emotions. Snakes just plain don't HAVE some of these structures to work with. They probably have the most basic of emotions - among them fear and contentment - but they're unlikely to have anything like the "social" emotions that mammals do, like "love" or "jealousy".

A cat purring and pushing his head into your hand is actually giving you a distinct command. The command is "feed me." It's derived from what kittens do - leaping up and bumping their foreheads against mum's chin to get her to lie down so they can nurse. It's a "compliment" of sorts because they're saying "we feel that you are equivalent to our mother" but it doesn't indicate they LOVE you

__________________
- Ssthisto





Lizards: 2.2 E. macularius, 1.2 H. caudicinctus, 1.0 R. ciliatus, 0.2.1 A. fragilis, 1.1 T. merianae, 1.0 V. niloticus ittibittius
Colubrids: 3.5.15 P. guttattus, 1.0 P. guttatus X E. climacophora, 1.1 P. o. rossalini, 1.0 P. o. lindheimeri, 0.1 E. anomala, 0.1 C. radiatus
1.2 Lamprophis spp, 1.0 L. g. nigritus, 0.1 L. g. californiae, 1.0 H. n. nasicus
Boids: 1.1 E. c. maurus, 0.1 E. conicus, 4.1.6 P. regius, 1.1 A. maculosa
We HAD a three-bedroom house... Current lodgers: 1.0 E. c. maurus, 1.1 E. c. loveridgei